


Strawberry Dynamo

by Vhaiada



Series: Many Hinakoma Opportunities [2]
Category: Dangan Ronpa, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Anal Sex, Fingering, Kokeshi Dynamo, Light Bondage, Light Masochism, M/M, STRAWBERRY HOUSE, Vibrators, takes place in canon Chapter 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-19
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-04-10 03:15:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4375058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vhaiada/pseuds/Vhaiada
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Seriously, what is that thing?" Hinata couldn't hide his disdain even a little. </p><p>Komaeda seemed disappointed, likely more because Hinata was disappointed than anything to do with the pain gnawing at his own stomach. "Hmm... I don't know. Some kind of toy, I guess?" It was long, smooth, cylindrical, and lacquered to a shine; crudely painted and shaped to look sort of like a person in only the most symbolic sense. It was carved with a simple, rounded shape at one end to represent the head. On the other end, under the "feet", was a small red button. "It's kind of heavy for something made of wood," he noted, turning it over in his hands.</p><p>Hinata snatched it from him impatiently and pressed the button. A low buzzing sound filled the room and he dropped it as though he'd been bitten. The "doll" moved slowly sideways across the bed, vibrating intensely. Hinata caught the blurred expression in its painted dot eyes and thought it looked like it was asking for help.</p><p>"Uhhhh."</p><p>"Oh!" Komaeda clapped his hands once. "It is a toy!"</p><p>(Takes place in continuity with previous Chapter 2 story, http://archiveofourown.org/works/4341338)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> set in Chapter 4 so there are spoilers!

 

 

  
_Oh_ , Hinata thought distantly, _this is how I die._

He'd been laying on the slide in Strawberry Park, thinking about nothing, but Komaeda appeared like a ghost at the top of the stairs in the garish room beyond and was now _running_ towards him. He didn't seem to be holding any weapons, but it didn't matter. Komaeda never _runs_ anywhere.

 _I should have known._

The strawberry patterns rising in constant motion on the walls made his actual speed hard to gauge, a disorienting optical illusion that Hinata was fully prepared to blame for his own demise.

He didn't feel all that surprised that it would end this way. He'd been letting his guard down around Komaeda since their first week on the island, and the only unexpected part of dying by his hand was that he didn't take any of the numerous opportunities he'd had sleeping in Hinata's cottage-- in Hinata's bed-- to do it.

As Komaeda neared, Hinata hopped off the slide and half-heartedly put his arms up. He was already really hungry, and wasn't actually planning to put up much of a fight. This was fine.

"Hinata-kun!" Komaeda yelled. _Komaeda never yells._ "Didn't you hear me screaming your name just now?" He must have been exhausted, as he was out of breath by the time he was within a few feet and, before he even finished speaking, was bent over with his hands on his knees.

Hinata casually moved his arms from a defensive posture to indignantly crossed over his chest, coolly pretending he had not been prepared for death. "No. Not even a little bit. What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong!" he whipped quickly back into an upright position, his expression mildly delirious, "I got the sound-proof bedroom, remember?" He started laughing as though he'd just told a joke.

"Uh, okay," Hinata didn't see what was so funny, "So...what do you need? Why were you screaming my, ah," his voice lowered, "Oh, my god," it lowered more, "Komaeda. What the hell?" After glancing around rapidly for anyone in earshot, he grabbed Komaeda's jacket hood and dragged him from the middle of the room to the wall, where the strawberries danced. He was full-on whispering now. "Why were you _screaming_ _my name_ in your room?! What if it wasn't actually sound-proof? You wouldn't be able to tell!"

"It is sound-proof though, you just confirmed it!" The red shapes passing by on the walls occasionally gave Komaeda's cheeks a life-like glow.

"But if-- look, never mind." Hinata released the death-grip on his hood and pushed his shoulder lightly. His voice was still barely audible. "You _don't_ have to tell me if you're doing weird stuff in your room. I don't wanna know. If you don't need anything, I'm gonna go sit in the lounge and chew on my own arm or something."

"It's just, you've been so nice, letting me take up space in your cottage all this time," Komaeda was speaking too loudly, "And I'm certain that I've kicked you in my sleep before," He was getting louder, "So the least I could do was offer to let you sleep in MY bed for a change, as it's very--"

" _Holy shit_ , Komaeda, shut _up_ ," Hinata grabbed his hood again and pulled it up over his unmanageable tendrils of hair, tugging his head down a bit to whisper-scream at him, "What the fuck are you _doing?_ "

Up until this moment, Hinata had actually been impressed at the _unspoken_ part of their unspoken agreement, which seemed to be: do not mention nighttime activities during the daytime, and likewise, daytime activities during the night. He now wished he'd gotten it in writing or something.

"I'm just reminding you that I have a sound-proof room! Where no one could _hear anything_! And it's almost night-time, and your room is the worst. You don't actually want to sleep in that terrible place, do you, Hinata-kun?"

Hinata practically shoved him over to the staircase, and would have shoved him down the stairs if he hadn't cheerfully begun to descend on his own. "If anyone is in the lounge, they're gonna see me go in with you," Hinata mumbled once they reached the second floor, quickly looking both ways, then both ways again. It was a lot easier to sneak around the cottages... he assumed. Now that he thought about it, he'd always left the sneaking up to Komaeda, and had never asked if he'd been caught by the others before. What if this was all for nothing, and everyone already knew?

"I think no one cares as much about who you share a bed with as you think they do," Komaeda was still speaking at an inappropriate volume as they headed toward the Strawberry House living quarters, "But if it upsets you that much, I'll make up an excuse, so that no one thinks that you might be spending time with me of your own free will."

Hinata didn't have time to dwell on a response, as Komaeda turned around to face him and proceeded to put on a small show for apparently no one. "Hinata-kun, there's a scary bug in my bedroom! Will you kill it for me?"

"Uh," Hinata looked around, then responded loudly to the empty lounge, "Yeah, I'll kill a bug for you, in your room, Komaeda."

"Thanks, Hinata-kun! I'll give you a kiss as a reward!"

Hinata shoved him the last few steps toward, and then into, his Deluxe Room, slamming the door behind them. Well, it wasn't much of a slam-- the heavy door was lined with rubber and made a gentle sound as the air pressure in the room shifted, sealing them in silence. The hideous pink and blue nightmare of a room was still a welcome rest for the eyes, since none of its patterns _moved._ A crystal chandelier glittered overhead, illuminating the walls painted like an afternoon sky, a blatant reminder that there was a world outside that they were no longer permitted to see.

Komaeda leaned against his door and laughed, "Sorry, sorry! I saw everyone except you over in Grape House chatting about something, so I thought I could catch you here alone...I didn't mean to make you angry--" Hinata grabbed his wrists and quickly pushed himself up on his toes to give Komaeda a frustrated, silencing kiss. He sometimes hated that he was shorter than Komaeda, hated that he had to look up at him while he talked down to himself. But it was only by a little bit, and when Komaeda was laying down, it didn't matter. When Komaeda was on his knees, it didn't matter.

Hintata turned his head, and glanced around the space suspiciously. "Does the...does your room _smell_ like strawberries?!"

"Hmm," Komaeda hummed noncommittally and hastily restarted the kiss, twisting his hands out of Hinata's grasp to drag his fingers through his hair until they both forgot about the scent.

Hinata leaned in hard, like it was a competition, pressing himself against the other boy's hips, before pulling away sharply as something solid dug into his thigh. He wasn't in the mood to make a lewd remark about it, so he just stared down at the bulging pocket of Komaeda's parka. "What's that."

"Oh!" He straightened up and jammed his hand into his coat. "I forgot about this! Do you remember when you gave this to me, Hinata-kun?" He pulled out a large blue plastic gatcha ball from the Monomono Yachine.

"No."

"Aha... remember, I was asking if you wanted me to do the machine for you, since I'd probably be lucky enough to get whatever items you wanted, and you said 'if I give you the next thing will you leave me alone', and I said Okay, and you placed this in my hand and told me to go away."

"Ah. Yeah."

"Well, I never opened it! I was saving it for a special moment when I really, _really_ needed a present from Hinata-kun. There might be food inside!"

Hinata's eyes widened at the mere suggestion. He was right, and if Komaeda was truly the currently-starving SHSL Lucky Student, it was probably food. "Hurry up... open it!" Hinata didn't mean to raise his voice, but it didn't matter now. He was tempted to grab it and open it himself, but that seemed unlucky.

"Okay! Let's see..." Komaeda slipped off his shoes by the door and fussed with the ball while walking over to his bed. Pink and polka-dotted and gaudy, it was the worst bed Hinata had ever seen-- but was still, on a _technical_ level, superior to his own Strawberry House bed. Komaeda knelt down and mashed the ball on the blankets with both hands until it cracked open, the two halves falling apart under his palms. Hinata leaned over, mouth already watering. Komaeda stole a long glance at his face-- his face full of hope-- before he lifted his hands dramatically.

It was an ugly wooden doll.

"Ugh, your talent really is garbage." Hinata couldn't hide his disdain even a little. "Seriously, what is that thing?"

Komaeda seemed disappointed, likely more because Hinata was disappointed than anything to do with the pain gnawing at his own stomach. "Hmm... I don't know. Some kind of toy, I guess?" It was long, smooth, cylindrical, and lacquered to a shine; crudely painted and shaped to look sort of like a person in only the most symbolic sense. It was carved with a simple, rounded shape at one end to represent the head. On the other end, under the "feet", was a small red button. "It's kind of heavy for something made of wood," he noted, turning it over in his hands.

Hinata snatched it from him impatiently and pressed the button. A low buzzing sound filled the room and he dropped it as though he'd been bitten. The "doll" moved slowly sideways across the bed, vibrating intensely. Hinata caught the blurred expression in its painted dot eyes and thought it looked like it was asking for help.

"Uhh _hh_."

"Oh!" Komaeda clapped his hands once. "It _is_ a toy!"

"Did you do this."

"Hinata-kun, I promise it was unopened before...! There was even a sticker seal on it. You gave me this present yourself!" Komaeda clutched at his own shirt with both hands, bunching up the fabric. "I definitely should have opened it immediately!"

Hinata grabbed it and held it up to Komaeda's face. "It's _your_ luck, so _you_ wanted this." He moved it closer until it touched his nose, and Komaeda gave a nervous laugh as the numbing vibrations ran through his sinuses.

"Ah, well, I've told you about how that kind of thing works before... you're expecting too much of me again. The _last_ thing I wanted was to see your hope get crushed!" He grabbed Hinata's hand and squeezed, feeling the vibrations course through their fingers. Komaeda jerked both their hands toward himself, pressing the buzzing head of the doll into his chest and dragging it downward, tracing over the swirling red design on his t-shirt. Hinata glared at him but didn't pull his hand away, and after a few seconds of mentally scolding himself, pushed the vibrator hard into Komaeda's stomach. "Ha, ha... urgh... I'm really glad you could be here when I finally opened your gift, Hinata-kun...!"

"This is seriously the worst," Hinata groaned, pushing Komaeda onto the pink polka-dotted bed before crawling up to join him. He kicked the empty gatcha ball halves onto the floor in the process. "We're gonna die here, all of us, starved to death, but at least we have this thing, this horrible thing from your pocket." He moved the doll back to Komaeda's face. "Maybe it's edible anyway. You'll have to let me know, okay?" He pushed it into his mouth, briefly muting the buzzing sound. Komaeda recoiled instantly.

"Aghk, ghh, hey, don't... that feels horrible on teeth," he protested amicably, rolling easily with Hinata's mood. "If you want to put it in my mouth, please turn it off first." Komaeda pressed the button on the bottom of the toy and then lay back against the pillow with his arms stretched up over his head, looking ready. Hinata ignored him, not making eye contact while he rolled the now-silent doll between his fingers and thumb. "Um, Hinata-kun, do you actually need me to tell you what that thing is supposed to be used for...?"

"I know what you're going to use it for when I leave." Hinata said bluntly, still looking at the object in disgust.

"Ah... leave? Why are you going to leave, after all the trouble I went through to get you here?" Komaeda didn't spend every night in Hinata's cottage, but it was more often than not. And of those nights they spent together, many of them were uneventful; Komaeda would crawl silently into Hinata's bed, and they would speak of nothing, and sometimes fall asleep close enough to touch. He would leave before morning announcements.

"Because our rooms are in separate buildings, and someone might notice if I'm gone and think it's suspicious, which would be bad after you casually suggested to everyone that I might be the traitor this morning." Hinata raised his arm and dropped the toy from a few feet up, it bounced off Komaeda's ribs with a thunk and landed on the bed beside him.

"It's a possibility worth considering though, isn't it?" He rubbed the sore spot through his shirt, "I mean, it's possible for anyone, but doesn't it seem _extra_ possible for you?"

"Nobody trusts you at all so it shouldn't matter, but they used to trust me at least a little bit! Why are you dragging me down with you? Or should I even bother to ask, while I'm sitting on your hideous bed, next to your hideous vibrator." Hinata flopped face-down into the fluffy pink comforter, laying across Komaeda's legs. A pale hand reached out to pat him on the head comfortingly.

"You're feeling despair right now, Hinata-kun, but I'm sure that the deeper your despair _now_ , the more intensely you'll feel _it..._ when the time is right--" Hinata groaned loudly into the quilt and kicked his feet, "--A beautiful," He reached behind himself to blindly slap at Komaeda's legs, "--Shining," His fingers dug into Komaeda's thigh and it didn't matter at all, "--Hope!"

He pushed himself up and grabbed irritably at the other boy's belt. They hadn't gotten each other off in days, not since before Komaeda got sick. But when he was jerking Komaeda off, or when Komaeda's head was between his legs, it usually put an end to conversations like this. Hinata didn't consider him to be a comforting presence, not in the slightest, so it was embarrassing how anxious he felt on the nights he didn't come by. _If he's not here, he could be up to something, he could be hurting someone,_ Hinata assured himself of his concerns when he lay awake too long, listening for a soft knock at the door, wishing he hadn't gotten _used_ to someone else being there with him.

He unfastened the buckle and started trying to tug Komaeda's jeans down, while he watched unhelpfully. "Come on, you dragged me in here for this, didn't you?"

"Hmm..." Komaeda didn't lift his hips like usual, didn't start unbuttoning Hinata's shirt like usual. "The more I think about it, the more I believe you're definitely the most suspicious person here, Hinata-kun."

Hinata grabbed the waistband of Komaeda's jeans in two tight fists. "This again?!" He pulled hard on the fabric, threatening to bust the zipper. "After all this time, you're gonna say something like that _now_?" He realized he'd emphasized the wrong word, and corrected himself, "You _, you're_ gonna say something like that? To _me_?"

Komaeda gently took Hinata's hands in his own and looked at him with a serious expression. "Why do you think I've been keeping an eye on you all this time?"

" _You've_ been--" At some point during this exchange (like many of their exchanges,) Hinata became aware that his strings were being pulled, but the words kept coming out, kept falling into place. He said the things he was supposed to say, the only things he could say. "You're _still_ the suspicious one here, you know that, right?"

Komaeda's seriousness fell away and he laughed again. "You don't have to get so worked up all the time, Hinata-kun. Of course I know no one here trusts me... except you, for some reason!"

"When did you get the impression that I trust you?" Hinata could answer this one himself, and didn't want to hear him say it, so he quickly spoke up again, "And you told me before that you trusted and believed in _me_ , but that's obviously not true." He braced himself to get off the bed, but Komaeda grabbed his arm.

"I actually do still believe in you, the Hinata-kun that I've spent all this time with," Komaeda said, his tone taking on an abrupt intensity. "It's not your fault if you don't remember who you really are." He squeezed Hinata's arm almost painfully. "I don't know if the opinion of someone like me matters to you, but traitor or not, I want to prove my trust."

Hinata winced as Komeda's grip tightened, but let himself be pulled closer until he was straddling his thighs. The hand on his arm released and moved up to Hinata's collar. He felt a haze wash over him, and sat perfectly still, arms at his sides, hands resting on the bed beside his ankles. Komaeda's fingers skillfully pushed into the knot of his tie and worked at the silk until it loosened and slid apart, then gently tugged on one end until it slipped free of his shirt. He folded it over a few times until it was small enough, and placed it in Hinata's hand.

He stared at the loops of green fabric for a few moments before he let his eyes refocus back on Komaeda, who was unfastening the chain attached to his belt loop. The little skull charm on the end clinked against the metal a few times, grinning morbidly. Komaeda bundled it up and closed the fingers of Hinata's other hand around it.

"Uh," Hinata felt like he knew where this was going, but he _definitely_ didn't want to be wrong out loud. "What's..." He moved his hands as though he was trying to gauge the weight of the objects he was clutching, and shrugged at the boy under him.

"...Hinata-kun."

"Are you gonna... tie me up..." Hinata knew it was wrong, but wondered if this was the safer guess.

"How would that prove that _I_ am trusting _you_."

Hinata shrugged again, feeling his mouth go dry. He glanced at the bed posts, sturdy and tall and white, flanking the padded, heart-shaped headboard and providing structural support for the gaudy canopy above. He put the bundled chain on the bed and reached weakly for Komaeda's right wrist, which was still covered by his jacket sleeve. The parka had slipped off of his shoulders and rested bunched up at his elbows on both arms. Hinata gripped the cuffs while Komaeda slipped out of it the rest of the way. He reached again for his bare arm and then just held it, blinking as he considered his next move.

He apparently hesitated a few moments too long. Komaeda jerked his hand away and sat up abruptly, unbalancing Hinata on his lap.

"Ah-- hey, whoa, hold on..!"  Their positions reversed before Hinata even had time to catch himself, Komaeda still between his legs but on top of him now, pressing his hips against Hinata's and slowly increasing the pressure.

"I _could_ tie you up, if that's what you prefer, Hinata-kun." In the commotion, their new wooden friend had rolled into the indent their weight made in the mattress, and came to rest beside Komaeda's knee. He ignored it for the moment, and grabbed instead at Hinata's wrists, quickly pinning them above his head. He leaned in to whisper against his ear, "I'd be good at it."  Komaeda wasn't particularly strong, but Hinata was feeling unusually pliable underneath him, and it took a few long seconds of wide-eyed staring at the ceiling for him to start struggling.

"No... no, I-I'll do it, ngh-- Komaeda, get off of me," Komaeda dug his nails in a little, just enough to make Hinata gasp. He gathered his wits and shoved Komaeda off, back against the headboard, and it was a bit too easy to feel like a victory. He grabbed Komaeda's wrist again and looped the tie around it tightly, and then leaned over to affix it to the bedpost.

Komaeda tugged on the restraint, nodding satisfactorily while Hinata untangled the skull chain. "Uh, isn't the metal gonna hurt, we can probably find something else," his hands shook a little bit while he experimentally looped it over his own wrist and cinched it tight. "It's kinda...it's gonna hurt you."

Komaeda tipped his head to the side, eyes growing unfocused and dark, and he opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself and smiled instead. "Hinata-kun," he breathed gently, reaching out to the back of Hinata's neck and pulling him close, distracting him from fumbling with the chain. Komaeda leaned forward until their lips met, and the metal slid off Hinata's arm and puddled on the bed beside them. He braced himself on the headboard while he focused on their kiss, failing to notice Komaeda's free hand quietly positioning the chain into a knotted loop. When he finally pulled away, feeling dazed, Komaeda was holding his left arm out near the other bedpost, wearing the dangling chain like a bracelet with a neat sliding knot.

"A-ah..." At a loss for words, Hinata silently tied the chain to the other post, and sat back to take in the sight of their joint efforts. The skull charm dangled from Komaeda's extended wrist, hollow eyes looking a little judgmental, and Hinata wondered why his heart was beating so fast. "Um...now what?" He wished he sounded more confident, now and always.

Komaeda smiled at him, cheerful and tinged with something else Hinata couldn't place. "So, now you can do whatever you want, Hinata-kun, I'm trusting you with my life!" He tugged on the restraints for emphasis. Hinata wasn't entirely sure that he couldn't get out if he wanted to, but escaping seemed to be the furthest thing from his mind. He'd almost forgotten than this was a thinly veiled trust exercise, and wasn't sure what it meant to be entrusted with a life that wasn't valued by its owner in the first place.

"Whatever I want, huh," Hinata narrowed his eyes skeptically and leaned forward. "What if I just leave? Right now?"

"If that's what you want," is what Komaeda said, but he lifted his foot and placed it between Hinata's legs, pressing with his toes against his crotch. Hinata jerked and grabbed his ankle, looking scandalized.

"S-Stop it, I'm out of stuff to tie you down with!"

"That's probably not true," Komaeda was looking around the room contemplatively while wriggling his toes. "Oh! We both have belts!" Hinata scooted out of his reach, and the vibrator rolled after him as he disrupted the landscape of the comforter again. Its painted face stared up at him, looking lost.

Hinata lifted the doll gingerly between his fingers and met its gaze. "You," he mumbled flatly, and it wasn't clear which of them he was addressing, "You definitely planned this, all of this, somehow."

Komaeda strained forward and the chain rattled, drawing Hinata's attention back. "I'm just lucky, Hinata-kun, it's the only even slightly interesting thing about me," he reached out with his foot again, impatient. Hinata moved closer to him, pushing his leg out of the way to sit between his knees. He went back to his half-finished task of unzipping Komaeda's jeans, finally sliding them off completely. He sighed in relief, and Hinata coolly tossed them over his shoulder. The air-borne pants struck the Deluxe Room table display that consisted of a skull with fake plastic lollipops sticking out of its eye sockets, and the setup clattered to the floor loudly. They both turned to look.

"...Hm, you trusted me, and I knocked over your skull lollipops," Hinata said, drumming his fingers on Komaeda's bare thighs.

"My forgiveness isn't worth anything, but if you'd like such a pointless achievement, you can earn it pretty easily," Komaeda rambled, squeezing his knees on Hinata's sides, trying to pull him closer.

"You want me to go clean up the mess I made, right? I'll go ask Monokuma for a new one," Hinata mock-poised to get off the bed, almost smiling for the first time in days but managing to hide it behind his hand.

"Hi _nata_ -kun," Komaeda whined, locking long legs around his waist, and Hinata actually laughed. It came out before he realized it was happening, and he hurriedly switched on the vibrator to draw attention away from the fact that he was enjoying himself for a moment. He pressed the head of it against the now straining fabric of Komaeda's boxers, offering a silent apology to its blurred, stupid-looking face. Komaeda gasped and fell back against the headboard, his leg-lock relaxed. Hinata moved it slowly up and down his length through the fabric, watching Komaeda's face closely, taking in the soft sounds he was making.

"Hh... wait, Hinata-kun, wait," Komaeda jerked away from it after a little bit, thighs shaking. "It's going too strong." He was rasping already, and Hinata tried to imagine what it must feel like.

"There's not, like, settings on it... it's just the one button."  Hinata's fingers felt numb, and he switched hands before pressing the doll back between his legs.

He cried out and tried to pull away again, "Hinata-kun, this is the only change of clothes I have here, please don't get them dirty--"

" _I'm_ not gonna be the one getting your clothes dirty," Hinata continued the gentle swirling motions. Komaeda drew his knees together, but only succeeded in trapping Hinata's arm between them. He whined and twisted for a bit, trying and failing to dull the sensation before Hinata finally took pity on him and slid his underwear off, tossing them on the floor to join his jeans and skull lollipops. A look of mild distress flickered across Komaeda's face, but he quickly got over it and returned his attention to more pressing matters. He drew his knees up and adjusted himself against the headboard, restraints clinking softly.

Hinata took the opportunity to wriggle out of his own pants and underwear, tossing them onto the grotesque pink sofa that sat close by. He glanced at the patiently waiting Komaeda, then cast his eyes to the ceiling as if deep in thought, or prayer, or apology, before pressing the buzzing doll against his own erection for a few intense seconds. "Fuck," he mumbled, almost laughing, "I see what you mean."

Komaeda looked dazed as he watched Hinata experiment with it, apparently caught between the need for his attention and the need to see him enjoying himself, first and foremost. "You probably regret giving it to me now, don't you," he smiled, "You can have it back, of course, if you want to keep it."

"I don't want this ugly thing in my room," Hinata replied, leaving out the part where he didn't really feel like he needed it; Komaeda was always there, after all.

He pressed the device into his palm and crawled closer, closer, until his hand could mostly wrap around himself and Komaeda together, and the friction of each other and the vibrator was almost too intense. Komaeda shut his eyes tightly, looking like he was trying to keep himself from falling apart, whimpering softly. Hinata's hand moved faster, and he leaned forward until his forehead was on the other boy's chest. He could hear himself panting, felt Komaeda arch underneath him into his hand, and nearly lost himself completely until-- from somewhere in the distance-- he became aware that Komaeda was saying something.

"Huh...?" Hinata groaned into his shirt, hand slowing down so he could re-route energy into his brain.

Komaeda didn't respond at first, and Hinata groggily tipped his head back to look at his face.

"Would... you...?" Komaeda's voice sounded like it was escaping against his will, like he'd failed to hold it back.

"Would I... what?" Hinata buried his face in the white t-shirt again, waiting for him to finish so they could _finish_.

"I just... want to see what it would feel like, you know..." Komaeda rasped, and Hinata took a few seconds to mentally fill in the gaps. He huffed softly into his chest, completely on edge himself, and sat back on his knees. His hands were still shaking, now more from adrenaline and less from nerves, but he lifted the doll and pointed to it. Komaeda didn't quite manage a full nod and instead just raised his chin a little, his eyes narrowing. The chain clinked.

"Don't we need something to, you know..." Hinata barely stopped himself from making a filthy hand gesture to accompany his suggestion. He glanced around at the dizzying decor, but saw nothing helpful.

"I brought something," Komaeda said as though it was obvious, "It's on the sofa." Hinata leaned over the side of the bed and sure enough, peeking out from under his own discarded slacks, was...a something.

"Ahh... r-right," Hinata could feel the prickle of sweat start to break out on his forehead and wiped at it with his forearm. He placed his hands on either side of Komaeda's bent legs and pressed them together tightly, then slid the still-buzzing doll between his knees. He turned it so that its face was staring at Komaeda; it was his turn to have to look into its sad eyes. "Hold this," he said, and Komaeda nodded obediently. He hopped off the bed and reached for the Something hiding beneath his pants.

He lifted it into the light. Ah, of course. It was a strawberry-shaped bottle with a silver pump-top filled with an opaque, pale pink substance; the word "STRAWBERRY" was printed on it in a commanding, stern black font.

"I found it in the bathroom," Komaeda explained, unprompted.

Hinata pumped some of it, too much of it, into his hand. "What is it, soap? Lotion?"

Komaeda shrugged, an awkward motion when one's hands are tied to bedposts. "It's Strawberry."

Suddenly the fragrance Hinata had taken notice of earlier became overpowering, and he clenched his (deeply moisturized) fist at the realization. Some Strawberry squeezed between his fingers and dripped on the carpet, which was also strawberries.  He crawled back on the bed and pointed a slick, accusing finger at Komaeda's chest. "This, you smell like this stuff!" More excess Strawberry dripped onto Komaeda's shirt.

"Hinata-kun, I already told you about that," he sounded like he was pleading, and the doll slipped out from between his knees and hit the bed.

"Told me about what?"

"That I was testing my sound-proof room!"

"Oh...when you were..." The pieces fell into place in Hinata's mind, his synapses rapidly forming the paths and sick skate ramps that connected thoughts together in his brain. He paused while he considered his next words, but didn't come up with anything good.

"...You're... you're never that loud when _I'm..._ doing... stuff... to you."

"Oh, Hinata-kun, of course I don't want to be too loud in your cottage. You would definitely get mad at me!" Though Komaeda's upturned eyebrows seemed to be taking pity on him, he was right, of course. Hinata opened his mouth to agree, but Komaeda continued over him, louder, "If every time you touched me I screamed _Hinata-kun! Oh, god,_ _Hinata-kun!_ as loud as I wanted to, someone would _def-i-nite-ly_ hear, and we'd be found out. But sometimes I think that would be okay, if everyone knew, and then you wouldn't mind if I yelled, _Yes, Hinata-kun, faster, please, Hi-na-ta-kun_ ," he turned his head to moan against his own shoulder, eyes shut tight.

Hinata could feel his face turning Strawberry-pink, and he tried to interrupt again, but Komaeda lifted his heel and slammed it on the bed, toes curling, " _Please Hinata-kun, harder, Hinata-kun, j-just like that, Hinata-kun_ ," he lifted his hips, the chain cinching tighter as his weight shifted.

"S-stop that!" Hinata stammered, making useless grasping motions in the air.

" _It's a sound-proof room,_ _Hinata-kun_!"

Hinata moved forward, sliding his knees under Komaeda's raised hips to take some of the strain off his wrists. His heart was pounding so loudly he wasn't sure even the Deluxe Room could hide it, and he slowly, nervously pressed his Strawberry-slick middle finger against Komaeda, who tensed up and went silent. Only the soft buzzing of the doll at his side and his own pulse filled the room now, as he exhaled the breath he'd been holding. They made eye contact and Hinata waited for him to say something, but he only blinked expectantly, so Hinata carefully started to push his finger inside. Komaeda moaned again, much softer than before, but Hinata felt like he actually earned it.

Grey eyes were locked on him with _overwhelming_ affection, and Hinata had to look away before the world closed in on him. He glanced down to focus on what he was doing and pressed in a little further. He tried to ask if it was okay, if it hurt at all, but his words caught in his throat, and he just made a quiet sound instead. Komaeda understood it anyway and responded, "It feels good, Hinata-kun," a bit breathlessly, but not quite what Hinata was looking for.

A few long seconds passed and he gently pushed in a second finger; this time, Komaeda's breathing hitched. Encouraged, Hinata started to move his hand slowly, always too slowly. Komaeda tensed around him, leg jerking involuntarily as Hinata's middle two fingers twitched inside him.  After a bit of gentle motion and positive responses, he slid his fingers out and finally picked up the vibrator, whose constant sound had become ambient white noise.

Komaeda flinched when it touched him, and Hinata almost apologized, but kept silent and started to apply pressure. He turned its painted face away, down towards the mattress, so he wouldn't have to make eye contact as it inched its way forward. It sounded as though someone was turning down a volume dial as it entered Komaeda, the ever-present buzz now seeming far away. Hinata's hand stopped pushing and he glanced up. Komaeda was staring blankly up at the bed canopy, mouth open but not making any sound at all. Hinata's other hand was gripping his thigh; he could feel the pulse of vibrations running through his body, and, at a different frequency, he could feel him trembling.

"Umm...are you okay?" Hinata was surprised at how strained his own voice sounded when it finally escaped his throat. He watched Komaeda's eyes dart around for a few seconds before his head rolled forward and he regained just enough focus to look back.

"Fuck me with it," he gasped, like it was an emergency. The chain jingled, tiny skull clattering.

"Uhh," Under that desperate and _trusting_ gaze, Hinata's confidence would have flown out the window if there had been any windows in this entire, horrible structure. But it was trapped here, hovering overhead in the room, like a restless spirit that refused to return to its shaking host.

" _Hinata-kun_ ," it sounded like an order, and Hinata's mind went blank. He gripped the feet-end of the doll without thinking and pulled it most of the way out; buzzing filled the room again. Komaeda cried out, but it may as well have been another command, so Hinata thrust it back in. He was a muddled mess of adrenaline and arousal, but his wrist seemed to know what to do, so he let his instincts take over. He repeated the motion with increasing confidence until he found a steady pace that pulled sounds out of Komaeda that he'd never heard before, sounds that he liked, and he shifted his position so he could lean against him while his shoulder worked.

Komaeda's breathing became erratic, so Hinata added a new motion to the thrusts, twisting the doll on its way both in and out. Komaeda jerked in response to the added friction and whined; he was starting to sound threadbare and translucent, and Hinata was positive it was a good thing, until Komaeda wheezed, "Stop, _stop_ , Hinata-kun, _wait_ ," and Hinata froze.

"Wh...what's wrong, aren't you close?" He sat up again, settling enough to realize that his arm was tired. He actually thought he'd been doing a good job, but now he was terrified again. Komaeda nodded desperately, seemingly in affirmation, but he began pulling on his restraints and, for the first time, looked like he was actually trying to wriggle out of them. "D-do you want me to untie you?" Hinata was in a haze, the scent of strawberries clouding his senses.

A low sound started in Komaeda's throat and spilled out of him as something Hinata would hesitate to call laughter. He pulled hard on the chain and it went completely taught, squeezing his wrist tightly, and his whole body shuddered. Hinata slid the vibrator out of him and clicked it off, setting it aside. He leaned over Komaeda to reach for the chain, only to be thrown off balance by legs locking around his waist again. "Hh...nn, you should... leave that alone, Hinata-kun."

"Sorry, I, you, uh," Hinata froze again, now totally lost. Komaeda's thighs squeezed around him tighter, pressing him completely into his lap. Hinata's chin dragged through the spill of Strawberry on Komaeda's t-shirt, which had mostly soaked in, and the friction of full contact made him dizzy. When Komaeda's head tipped forward, pale hair shadowing his eyes, Hinata realized that even in this position, he was still looking _up_ at him somehow.

"S-someone like me," he continued deliriously, through what may have been a smile, "shouldn't be allowed to... finish first, by myself."

"Oh," _Is that what this is about?_ "You, uh... you usually... take care of me first, Komaeda, so I don't mind just..." Hinata realized, as he said it, that 'usually' meant 'always' and he trailed off. He braced his arms on either side of Komaeda's waist and tried to push himself up, but ankles locked together at the small of his back and pulled him back down.

"Come with me," it was somewhere between an order and a plea, " _Inside_ me."

Hinata went rigid. He had definitely, _technically_ done that before, as Komaeda's go-to move from the very beginning had been sucking him off. He was good at it, _weirdly_ good at it as far as Hinata was concerned, and he never pulled away when Hinata came. But he clearly meant something different now. Hinata swallowed the lump in his throat so he could attempt a response.

"O......okay."

Komaeda's hold on him loosened enough that Hinata could sit back a bit and position himself. He was still hard, and his head was spinning, overwhelmed. He stroked himself quickly with the excess Strawberry, thinking about how strawberries, all strawberries, were now ruined forever. He reached under the other boy's legs and pulled him forward, lifting his hips and bending his knees up. Komaeda was staring straight ahead, eyes dark and clouded, but Hinata couldn't tell if he was actually looking at anything. He took a few long, deep breaths before hooking one arm under Komaeda's knee. He placed his other palm on the slick pink stain on his shirt, leaned in, and slowly rocked his hips forward.

Komaeda was quiet until Hinata entered him fully, and then a stuttering gasp erupted from him, followed by a shivering, delicate, "H-Hi...nata...kun..."

It took all of Hinata's self control to keep himself together. Komaeda shuddered beneath him, and Hinata could feel, under his hand, thin skin sinking into the dips and valleys of his ribs as he took a few shaky breaths.

Hinata was overcome with the urge to see Komaeda fall over the edge first. He pulled back more abruptly than he planned, Komaeda made a startled sound before he pushed back in harder, deeper than before. Komaeda didn't complain, but his left hand tugged hard at the chain again, and Hinata became a little distracted by it. He kept his eyes on Komaeda's bound wrist as he started thrusting, watching him make a tight fist until his knuckles turned white, the chain digging into the angular bones of his hand. It definitely looked like it hurt, and Hinata reached up to grab his arm, to still him, in case he didn't realize he was doing it. Komaeda jumped, looking genuinely startled by the contact. Hinata could only reach his upper arm from the position he was in, but he gently rubbed Komaeda's skin with his thumb, and he felt the other boy's entire body tense up against him.

"Hey...r-relax, okay?" Hinata was fully aware of the irony of him, in this state, telling anyone else to relax, but he said it anyway. He pushed in fully and then paused there, taking in the sight of Komaeda, _Nagito_ , (he wasn't going to _call_ him Nagito, but it sent a spark up his spine to _think_ it), who was gazing up at him desperately, intensely, lovingly. Before Hinata realized it, he'd bent down to lick at _Nagito's_ neck (there it was again), and he moaned what he very much hoped was the pale-haired boy's surname into his throat before he started moving again, faster.

When Komaeda spoke up next, he sounded panicked. "Hi-Hinata-kun, I...I can't..."

"Can't...what?" Words coming out between thrusts, Hinata was only distantly aware that he was speaking at all.

"I can't... I shouldn't...feel... like this," The headboard creaked, over and over. "I'm-- " Komaeda's breath caught when Hinata pushed his knees up to his shoulders. "-- _worthless_."

It wasn't uncommon for him to start verbally abusing himself while Hinata was trying to make him feel good. He usually ignored it, sometimes told him to stop, but it never mattered. Komaeda needed to say it, needed to hear it out loud, and Hinata was never sure who he was saying it for.

The chain clinked.

Hinata's eyes flickered back to it and he took a deep breath. His hand slid from Komaeda's arm, over his shoulder, and settled tenderly on the back of his head briefly, before his fingers splayed and he wound his fist suddenly, tightly, into his hair. He yanked roughly, jerking his head back. Komaeda cried out, and Hinata wondered if it was too much, if he'd gone too far, but he kept moving his hips and soon his name echoed through the blessedly sound-proof room. Hinata dug fingers hard into his thigh, nails not quite long enough to draw blood, and it was enough, finally enough that Komaeda could relax, and let himself feel it.

He squeezed Hinata with his knees when he came, further dirtying his own t-shirt and whining into the top of the other boy's head. Hinata had been holding out as best he could and reveled in the small victory of finishing just barely second. His movements shuddered to a stop as he pressed completely flush against Komaeda, trembling through it to the end. He gasped for breath, and-- realizing he was wrenching Komaeda's head back again-- quickly released the grip on his hair and thigh. The loss of tension seemed harder on Komaeda than the pain itself, as he let out a groaning sigh, eyes closed and brows drawn together. The chain had gone silent, and after a few moments of savoring the quiet warmth, Hinata pulled out and reached for the restraints.

  
~~~~

Komaeda's right wrist was faintly red from the snugness of Hinata's tie, while his left was purple and green and had chain link-shaped _dents_ in it. Hinata was tucked in tightly by his side, trying to knead out the dents with his hands as though he was made of clay. "You should...take better care of yourself," he mumbled, keenly aware that there were more dents on Komaeda in the shape of his nails and several pale strands of hair still between his fingers.

"Hmm," Komaeda hummed, the single note speaking volumes as he admired the marks Hinata had left with him. "Are you going to stay in my room tonight, Hinata-kun?"

"I... dunno," he pressed with both his thumbs, massaging the colorful wounds, "If something happens, and I'm not where I'm supposed to be, I really don't want anyone to think I'm being...you know... suspicious."

"I can be your alibi!" Komaeda tipped his head to the side, bonking gently against Hinata's.

Hinata rolled his eyes. "Good, the two _most_ suspicious people are looking out for each other, assuring everyone of their whereabouts, totally not suspicious at all."

"You would... look out for me, Hinata-kun?"

Hinata stopped rubbing for a moment. "If you're... not doing anything wrong, of course, I'd do that for anybody. Lying would only get us all in trouble." The conversation had become embarrassing somehow, and Hinata kind of wanted to just go to sleep.

"Then, I will look out for you too. Unless you're the traitor, of course!"

Hinata punched him in the arm. "I'm not the traitor!"

Komaeda rolled over, wrapping one arm around Hinata's waist before he could think about leaving. "If you're not the traitor, then you're not suspicious, and you deserve to sleep in the best room in Strawberry House. Or it would be the best room, if I wasn't also in it." He paused. "You could sleep across the hall, in Tanaka-kun's Deluxe Room, but there are hamsters."

"Shut up," Hinata could barely be heard under the pile of red pillows he'd started stacking on his own face.

"The hamsters seem very nice, Hinata-kun."

Hinata kicked him in the leg, and Komaeda clicked the lamp off.

 


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Komaeda was so much crueler to himself than Hinata could ever be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i couldn't pull my own ass out of strawberry house...forgive me.  
> please note that the first line of this chapter is something komaeda actually says to prompt a free time in-game and is ..........not my fault

"If there's an emergency... I don't mind if you guys use me for food, okay?" Komaeda tugged on the drawstring of his hood, staring down at lush, strawberry patterned carpet. 

Hinata pointed at him, admonishment on his tongue, but realized too late that he didn't immediately know how to respond. The accusatory finger folded back up into his fist, which simply hovered in the air uncertainly while he tried to think of something to say-- Komaeda tipped his head, eyebrows upturned, looking confused by this new gesture. They stared at each other briefly before Hinata finally mumbled, "Stop saying stuff like that," while he silently chastised himself for being surprised. Eventually, he thought, _someone_ was going to say it-- it was probably obvious that the someone was going to be Komaeda.

They hadn't said much to each other since Hinata crept out of Komaeda's room early that morning, slinking back to Grape House before Monokuma Tai Chi began. It was probably a mistake to stop by his room in the middle of the day, but wouldn't it be more suspicious not to talk to him at all? _I'm overthinking this._

"Whatever you all decide is best, I'll go along with it, of course. I'm simply reminding you of your options, Hinata-kun."

Hinata shook his head violently, letting the momentum carry him out the door to make his exit back into the hallway. As he pulled the heavy door shut, the image of Komaeda's gentle, worried smile narrowed in the gap, until he blinked out of sight, sealed silently in his Deluxe Guest Room. 

Kuzuryuu was in the lounge next door, scowling at the table and tapping his foot. It was a welcome reprieve to sit with someone who wasn't going to  _immediately_ start talking about cannibalism. Hinata wondered if he'd overheard Komaeda's offer, but didn't ask. 

~~~

When the clocks claimed it was evening, Hinata was there in his awful room, curled up, shivering in his lumpy futon.

He'd been phasing in and out of consciousness, startled awake over and over by unsettling imagery that drifted around in his head, bumping into his skull before quickly receding back into his subconsciousness, where other forgotten things lived. 

He'd slept better the past few nights-- in a warmer room, in a softer bed. No one was using Grape House's Standard Room, so if he _really_ wanted, he figured he could probably have it. He vividly imagined himself getting up and switching rooms several times, but remained motionless, instead gazing into the abyss of the ceiling.

He wondered if Komaeda was going to try to come by. Wandering the bright halls, saying whatever he feels like to anyone he passes. They didn't run into each other again before everyone dispersed to their rooms, so Hinata bid the girls goodnight, and went into his Crummy Room as if he'd been doing it all along. He didn't really want to deal with Komaeda's grim suggestions tonight anyway, right?

Right.

_He can't be trusted._

Hinata rolled over. _Still offering to be a victim while everyone is starving._

He hugged the dingy pillow to his chest. _It's cruel._ _He'd be so easy to kill. He'd tell you exactly how to do it._

Hinata sat up. _He's the worst. It's not fair to everyone else who's trying so hard._

The worry-- it was definitely worry-- filled him with enough energy to crawl out of his futon, which was somehow less comfortable than the bare floor, and out of his room, which was somehow colder than the hallway outside. Squinting down the tunnel of bright green, he stared at the line of doors belonging to his friends. He'd be the barrier, as always, protecting them from Komaeda, from themselves.

_It would be so easy._

He padded down the steps, hearing his footsteps echo off the stairwell. They sounded a lot faster than he thought he was actually moving. Hunger-addled, his mind focused on the sound more carefully than the coordination of his feet, and at the bottom of the stairs, he missed a step and smacked face-first into someone, catching the delicate, flowery scent of her hair before his overworked synapses had time to process who it belonged to. He remembered as he was pulling away from a face-full of ribbon clip-- it left rhinestone-shaped dents on his cheek, but Sonia did not mention it.

"Hinata-san!" She was startled, of course, and Hinata was instantly stammering apologies and reaching up to straighten her bow. On the island, there were several places one might be going in the middle of the night-- snack run, gaming in the lobby, night swimming; In the Funhouse, there was only one place to go:

"Bathroom!" Hinata responded to an unasked question, pointing ungracefully at the doors, thankful that it happened to be on the same floor as the elevator. 

"You're right, it is a bathroom!" She paused a little too long, allowed Hinata's mouth to go a little too dry before her expression cracked into a smile and she laughed. "I'm kidding! Go on if you need to use it, I wouldn't dream of standing in your way!"

"D-don't you need it? You can use it first." Hinata could feel the heat on his face.

"There are two separate bathrooms, you know that, Hinata-san! And anyway, I'm not here to use the restroom," She clasped her hands over her chest, eyes glittering and determined, "I'm going to Strawberry House."

That made him forget how flustered he was. "Ah, um..." _We could ride over together._ Hinata shifted his weight, "At this hour?"

She paused and tipped her head, still smiling. "There is someone I need to talk to!"

Hinata's chest tightened. "D-did something happen?" He realized he was just going through his script of questions he himself had been prepared to answer if he got caught, and wasn't sure why he kept asking.

Sonia shook her head before her manicured hand moved to cover her mouth. "Oh, Hinata-san, it's just that everyone was up and about this afternoon. I was waiting to be alone-- Some things are best said with privates, you know!"

Hinata smiled a little despite himself. "Y-yeah, I understand what you mean." He understood perfectly. 

"With our current...situation, I just don't want to have any regrets," she kept smiling, but was looking past Hinata now, at the drifting grapes on the wall behind him. "Don't you think so?"

"Yeah...Um, I guess so." 

"So, I'll see you in the morning, I hope you have a good bathroom, and are able to get some rest." She waved, an elegant and warm gesture that distracted Hinata from realizing she'd already hit the call button on the elevator behind her. The doors opened immediately, she stepped in while still facing him, and they held eye contact until the doors closed between them. 

Hinata blinked away the royal spell binding his feet to the ground and dashed into the bathroom, like he  _said_  he would. Hovering by the door, he contemplated how long it normally took someone to use the bathroom, and wondered if he had been in here about that long. He was pretty sure Sonia wasn't coming back, and was also pretty sure no one else had heard him claim to need it, but he paced around anyway. And then flushed the toilet, just for good measure.  _Convincing, nice._

He also washed his hands, just in case, and thought about what he might say to Komaeda when he knocked on his door. He'd never been the one to knock before.

Waiting for the elevator to return from Strawberry House was a pleasant agony (the kind he felt he deserved,) as he could hear every soft creak from beyond the doors, and though the mechanism itself offered a gentle, nearly silent ride, to Hinata at that moment, it shook the foundation of Grape House as the doors slid apart. He dashed inside and did not turn around-- if anyone else had come downstairs, he no longer wanted to know about it. When the doors closed and he was sealed in the puzzle-themed elevator, he remembered Sonia's serene face, her determination, her calm, and wished he had even a fraction of that composure as he went about his task of _saving everyone_. 

That kind of confidence, surely it was a quality unique to royalty. 

The gears in the elevator hummed very softly as Hinata's brain sought language in the random sounds, whispered accusations translated from soft mechanical clicks: _Stupid. stupid stupid. stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid. S-s-stupid._ The doors shuddered open.  _You're being so stupid._

_~~~ ding_

There's wasn't even anyone else here to lie to. He stood alone in the Strawberry House lobby, the color-shock of bright pink soaking into his tired retinas, and thought about how fucking stupid he was being. The idea that anyone here would commit murder...even after everything that had happened, it was impossible, wasn't it? And...

_He thinks I'm worthwhile, for some reason._

Hinata shook his head. Where did that thought come from? _For some reason?_ Komaeda likes exceptional people. Exceptional. Hinata felt his chest swell, and a small shot of adrenaline willed his feet forward and up the stairs to the guest floor, carrying his quiet footsteps all the way to the hall.

_I wanna see him, for some reason._

_I want him to know that, for some reason._

He passed the other boys' rooms, time slowing down to a dream-like crawl as the hallway seemed to stretch out impossibly far, moving his destination further and further from him. He closed his eyes against the illusion, took a few more blind steps forward, and when he opened them again, he was in front of Komaeda's room. It wasn't too late to turn back-- no one had to know he was here, ready to visit Komaeda, of all people, of his own free will. Not even Komaeda had to know. His stomach lurched, eating away at itself with nerves and hunger and some other feeling, and he quickly raised his fist to knock. Now, it was too late. He tapped just under the small, cute drawing label Sonia had made; the first knock echoed too loud, so it trailed off into a gentle pitter-patter of knuckles on wood. Hinata broke out into a sweat almost immediately.

A few moments passed. He tried listening for any movement inside, even though he knew he shouldn't be able to hear anything. He stared into the dot eyes of the Komaeda drawing, its wispy hair making him instantly recognizable. The clock in the lounge ticked a few too many times, and just as anxiety was starting to prickle on the back of his neck, the latch clicked. Komaeda's eyes were shut tight as he opened the door, rubbing sleep from them with the heel of his palm. In just his t-shirt and boxers, Hinata couldn't help but think about how defenseless he looked, and his original, safe intentions rapidly snapped back into place. 

"...Hey, pay more attention, what if I was someone dangerous?" He stepped forward as he whispered, both to emphasize his point and get out of the hallway. 

Komaeda retreated back a few steps, startled. "Hinata-kun!" Long fingers pressed to his mouth in surprise, "If you've come all this way in the middle of the night, it must be important... What sort of 'dangerous someone' should I be looking out for?" His voice was husky with sleep, crackling a little more than usual.

Hinata stopped in the doorway. "Like... you know... Monokuma."

Komaeda laughed softly. "You know that if I'm not violating any rules, it's against regulations for him to harm me. Have you come to suspect one of our fellow students?" If he hadn't just woken up, he may have sounded excited.

Hinata frowned, and pushed the rest of the way into Komaeda's dark room. The other boy stumbled back a bit more. "No," he admitted, but hastening to cover his defeat, "You just keep telling everyone it would be okay to kill you, and eventually people will start to feel desperate. You can't do that to them. I won't let you." Hinata pushed the Deluxe room door closed behind him and stood across from Komaeda in the darkness. Only the bedside lamp illuminated the surreal space, casting dark shadows on the painted blue sky walls, shattering their illusion. 

"Hmm..." Komaeda looked deep in thought. "Then it should be you, right?" 

"...No."

"If you're worried about someone else killing me first, shouldn't you do it? You can free them of that temptation yourself." The room suddenly seemed darker, and Hinata noticed that he couldn't see Komaeda's eyes at all.

"That's not it..." Hinata pictured Sonia's face-- she must be across the hall at this very moment. Praying for her courage, he took another step forward. Komaeda was out of space to move away, the backs of his knees bumped up against the side of the bed, and he jolted to a stop with a startled laugh. Hinata took a deep breath. "I trust everyone... I definitely trust them!" He swallowed, trying to delay the rest of his thoughts, but knew they were coming out anyway. "I guess I just wanted to... I wanted to come by and see you!" _For some reason._

He kind of hated himself for saying it, but once it was out, his vague confession fired like a bullet, it was accompanied by a startling sense of anticipation-- Komaeda's overwhelming emotions, his pure delight, the rush of adoration. Hinata braced himself for the flood of affection, the self-loathing, the pedestal; he _wanted_ that, just for a moment, he wanted all of it.

"Oh..." Komaeda's nervous laughter stopped immediately and he stared at the floor, processing it. His mouth formed several silent shapes, words that never made it out before their drafts discarded. Then his eyes snapped up to Hinata's, wide and intense. "I guess the 'dangerous someone' actually was you, Hinata-kun!"

"Uh," Hinata considered that maybe he hadn't spoken clearly. He was literally starving, after all. "I'm not, I just said--"

"It's not your fault, of course!" Komaeda put his hands up as if Hinata was going to hit him. "It seemed like it was fine, because you were just putting up with me all this time-- every day, surely wishing I wasn't there-- there's nothing fortunate about being someone's burden, right?" He wrapped his arms around himself and squeezed, sidestepping away from Hinata and the bedside. "I thought it would be okay if I said whatever I wanted, because there was no chance you'd ever feel anything other than disgust for me," His gaze darted around the floor, words spilling out of him rapidly, "Obviously, it's not my own safety that concerns me, but I have no way of knowing how it's going to manifest now. It's definitely not safe for you, at the very least."

Hinata stood silently, his arms dropped to his sides.

"Sorry, sorry," Komaeda laughed hollowly, placing his hand over his heart. "I really am a weak person, but I can't stop myself from feeling happy about it, you know? That's the worst part." When he looked up, Hinata recognized fear on his face and was overcome with guilt. 

_I should have known. Maybe I did know._ Did he actually want to make Komaeda happy, or did he just want to be reassured that his presence meant something to someone? _Couldn't it be both?_

He stared at Komaeda for a few seconds before swallowing whatever he'd been planning to say next. After a long pause, Hinata narrowed his eyes. "Don't be so full of yourself," he snapped, lowering his voice, "I'm only here because my room is too cold. It's uncomfortable and disgusting...while you have this place..."  Komaeda looked up to interrupt, but Hinata kept speaking, "You always tell me I can do whatever I want, so I'm doing it." He grabbed Komaeda's wrist and pushed him back, carefully. "You spent so much time in my cottage, so... it's my turn." 

Komaeda tugged at his grasp, but not hard. "Hinata-kun, you don't have to--"

"Shut up, you don't know what you're talking about."

"Sorry, I shouldn't have assumed--" Their eyes met briefly before Hinata pushed him again, just hard enough to disrupt his balance. It didn't take much. Hinata grabbed the collar of his t-shirt to ease his fall, and could feel the pluck of thin threads snapping against his fingers as Komaeda landed in the plush high pile.

"No, you shouldn't have assumed," Hinata found this role coming easier than he expected, "Why else would I come here?" He dropped to his knees, straddling Komaeda and pinning his hips to the strawberry-patterned carpet. (Carpet, Hinata noted, that was softer than his fucking futon.) The brief rush of adrenaline from ending up on the floor made Hinata dizzy, and he didn't give himself time to recover before speaking. He braced himself with one hand and pointed at Komaeda's nose with the other. "I'll do...some bad luck to you, and then then next thing that happens can be considered good luck, right?"

Komaeda blinked up at him, brow worried, "That's not..." he paused for an endless second while they stared at each other, before his expression softened into a defeated smile. "How terrifying... I guess I really can't escape the cycle, hm?"

"That's right," Hinata's supporting arm trembled so he sat back on his ankles and crossed his arms over his chest.

Komaeda laughed, hugging himself again as he shuddered excitedly. "We'll see if Hinata-kun can fool ultimate Good Luck!!"

"I'm not fooling anything." Hinata said sternly. "You're terrible and I don't like you."

Komaeda laughed again, a little bitterly. "How cruel!" 

Hinata didn't know if his acting was too good or not good enough, but he could venture a guess. _This is stupid._

"Hinata-kun, if your plan is to force yourself on me, wouldn't it be best to tie me to the--"

Hinata interrupted him, grabbing his hair. "And make me do all the work again? No way." He was starting to get a better feel for what Komaeda liked, and tightened his grip. He leaned down to say something menacing, but his stomach growled audibly and he froze. Reality settled heavily on his shoulders, painfully in his stomach, and he fell out of the moment. "Ugh...I think... I'm too hungry and tired to do this." He could feel different parts of his body arguing among themselves even as he said it, "...We shouldn't waste our energy right now."

"I wouldn't mind doing all the work, Hinata-kun," Komaeda reached out to touch his cheek, alarmingly affectionate, "Or, as I told you before, it would be okay if you used me for food, to get your strength back."

Hinata grabbed his wrist and pulled it away from his face. "Komaeda....I mean it, stop saying awful stuff like that."

"I understand that it's a wretched thought, but if it's for survival, please try not to think about how repulsive my body would be."

"You know that's not what I meant!" He pressed Komaeda's arm over his head, into the soft carpet. "I trust everyone here, but... a-anyone can do weird things when they're desperate. Don't say stuff like that to anyone else, okay?"

"To anyone but you, Hinata-kun...?" Komaeda tipped his head back, exposing his throat. Hinata caught himself averting his eyes, as if it was something he shouldn't be seeing.

"Um...yeah... I mean,  _I_  already know not to take you seriously."

Komaeda reached his free hand into Hinata's hair, stroking fingers over his scalp, leaving a tingling sensation in their wake. "But...if  _anyone_  can do 'weird things' when they're desperate, doesn't that mean you have that potential too?"

"Uh," Hinata knew he should have seen that one coming, "I guess so, but," he swallowed thickly. "I wouldn't ever hurt anyone." 

Komaeda smiled, splaying his fingers on the back of Hinata's head and pulling him down. Hinata knew they were both half delirious, but he allowed Komaeda to push his head against his shoulder, where his stretched out t-shirt collar had slipped down. _Typical_ , he thought, his mouth pressed to bare skin. Komaeda spoke against his ear. "Just think about how good it would feel to finally  _eat_  something, Hinata-kun," he arched off the floor, encouraging full contact, "You don't have to kill me, but, just a small bite to tide you over, right? It would be such a small sacrifice on my part, to make sure you live on," he wheezed as the words spilled out, seeping into Hinata's ear, "--to fight against despair."

Hinata groaned. It was cruel to even talk about _eating_ right now, but it had only been _three days_ , no one would even think about doing something as extreme as, _ah_ , Komaeda leaned into him hard; Hinata's teeth were pressed into the skin where his neck and shoulder met, his jaw applying steady pressure. Komaeda gasped and tightened his hold on the back of Hinata's head. "I-it would be really unlucky to be the one... used for nourishment," he rambled, relaxing beneath Hinata, tendons slipping out of the way, leaving only flesh between his teeth.

Hinata wasn't going to bite down,  _obviously_ , but Komaeda seemed to be enjoying the suspense.  _This is so fucked up,_ Hinata reminded himself as he nudged his knee between Komaeda's legs, his teeth and hands pinning him to the floor like prey. Komaeda stilled beneath him, anticipating, even his breath trapped in his lungs, and Hinata wondered what the other boy  _actually_  thought was about to happen right now. Several seconds passed while Komaeda played dead beneath him. Hinata exhaled, carefully readjusting his jaw, then licking at the reddened skin before pressing into him again. Komaeda squirmed at the sensation and seemed to come back to life from it, breathing again and harder than before. He started whispering, so breathless and fast Hinata had to strain to hear him.

"Hinata-kun, just a little," he whined, chest rising and falling rapidly under Hinata's weight, "I'll be okay with just a little, and then I'll finally be useful, I'll be part of you, you can use me however you like, whatever you need to finally awaken--" Komaeda arched off the ground again, grinding against Hinata's thigh, "--the hope s-sleeping inside you, Hinata-kun, I want to feel it inside me, too, and, ah," Hinata could feel his own heart pounding as Komaeda melted underneath him, intangible suddenly, liquid, "Hinata-kun, please," Komaeda's nails scraped against the back of his neck and he tensed up completely and then Hinata tasted  _metal_.

He jerked his head away so quickly it made him dizzy, " _Shit_ , shit! I'm so sorry, Komaeda, I'm--" He let go of Komaeda's wrist, which was still bruised from their previous evening, to wipe at his mouth. Just as he'd feared, there was a bright color staining the back of his hand. 

Komaeda lay limply under him, expressionless, eyes rolled up to stare at the ceiling, while a tiny rivulet of blood dribbled down behind his shoulder before vanishing into the matching strawberry carpet. Hinata stared at the small wound, a little dotted oval of teeth marks, only one of which had managed to penetrate the skin. But his rational brain had abandoned him somewhere along the line, (perhaps long ago,) and he found himself feeling like a murderer. "I'm really sorry..." He repeated, hoping Komaeda could hear him from the afterlife. 

Reaching up to touch the mark, Komaeda pressed into it hard before checking his fingers. "Hinata-kun, there's no way that was enough," he said, looking a little skeptical. He licked the small smear of blood off his finger, and then slid it into his mouth while staring up at Hinata.

"I didn't mean to do that!" Hinata pleaded, sitting back on his ankles, too stressed to appreciate the gesture. He felt nauseous.

Komaeda huffed and pulled the finger out of his mouth with a soft, wet sound. Hinata swallowed. "I told you it was fine... I thought you were finally listening to me, but I'm used to being ignored by now, so I guess it doesn't matter." He sighed, relaxing back into the carpet, glancing up at the ceiling as if to distract himself from Hinata's failure.

"I didn't want to actually,  _really_  hurt you!" He became hyper-aware of every place on Komaeda he was touching-- his weight sitting on his thighs, his hand braced on the floor, grazing the curve of his ribs. He thought about how easy it was to hurt someone else, how awful that was. 

Komaeda's gaze flicked back to his face and he smiled. "You don't have any idea what hurts me, so that's not something you need to worry about."

Feeling weirdly offended by that accusation, Hinata reached out again to touch the bite mark, suspecting Komaeda would react positively. He was right, of course-- Komaeda trembled, growing visibly harder under the fabric of his underwear. 

"So," Hinata swallowed, "You don't... feel pain... when you get hurt, or something?"

"That's not it," Komaeda turned his head, tongue darting out to swipe at the blood streaked across Hinata's hand before he continued, "If I didn't feel pain, then it wouldn't really even count."

Hinata wanted to say what he always said-- that Komaeda was strange, not making sense-- that he didn't understand him. But lately, it had started to feel like that wasn't true anymore. 

Instead of saying anything, he leaned over to press his mouth against the wound again. He heard a pleasant gasp, and Hinata found he liked having such a sensitive, new spot to touch that would pull reactions out of him. He licked at it gently, still tasting a hint of blood, but didn't recoil. Komaeda shivered and reflexively tried to shrug him off, but Hinata held his ground, now sucking at the tender spot. 

Finding himself intimately connected in a way he had not anticipated, Hinata thought distantly about all the things he couldn't say to Komaeda, the things that frightened him, the things that were true. He wondered if he could be scared of him and scared for him at the same time, wondered at what point he stopped minding his presence and started to expect it. He wondered if Komaeda noticed, and if it would have been okay as long as he didn't admit it out loud. His teeth dug in a little more, and he didn't actually believe that the unseen forces plaguing the other boy could be tricked by manufactured misfortune, but if this helped ease his worry, even a little bit, maybe it was okay.

Komaeda whimpered, hips lifting off the ground as his heels slid back and forth through the carpet. "Hinata-kun..."

"Like I was saying," Hinata pulled away to gaze down at him as coldly as he could manage, "I'm not going to do all the work this time." Komaeda looked up at him wide-eyed, waiting. "So, um... get  _yourself_  ready," his throat was dry, but he held it together. He'd totally forgotten that he was way too hungry to do this.

"This certainly is some terrible luck I'm having," Komaeda laughed softly. "Really awful."

Hinata jerked his knee between Komaeda's legs, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to suggest that it could. "I said get ready."

Looking satisfied, Komaeda nodded obediently, rising to his knees as Hinata slid off of him. He made a move for the bed, but was blocked when Hinata sat down on the mattress with his arms crossed. "No, y-you stay on the floor, where you belong."

Komaeda grabbed at his own shirt, straining the already loose collar, "Oh! Of course."

"And you should...take... your clothes off, so I can see." Hinata said sternly, but from behind his hand, so Komaeda couldn't see his expression falter at how utterly embarrassing this was.

Komaeda crossed his arms over himself, grabbing the bottom hem of his t-shirt. It was a slim t-shirt, and should have fit snugly on someone of his height, but it hung off of his frame, draping a little too much. He pulled it off over his head, revealing the sharp angles and harsh shadows that conveyed his shape in the lamplight. He folded it and set it neatly on the couch, before stepping out of his boxers. He placed them on the couch as well, and next to them, Hinata noticed the bottle of Strawberry-- still thankfully half-full-- next to the Kokeshi Dynamo, glistening and clean. Komaeda caught him staring, fingers not-so-subtly bumping against the doll as his gazed flickered toward Hinata, eyes half-lidded. "What would you like me to do, Hinata-kun?"

Hinata froze, nervous fingers digging into the sheets hidden behind his back. "Um... I told you already. Don't make me repeat myself."

"You should be specific...don't leave critical details up to a useless person like me to figure out."

"Uh...just... you know, get yourself ready, so I can...I'm gonna...have sex. With you."

Komaeda laughed a little. Hinata had thought this couldn't be more embarrassing, but he was wrong, as usual. He was already slipping out of character, and tried to get back into it. He pointed at Komaeda, because it was the only time he felt commanding, and yelled, "Use that ugly doll on yourself since you like it so much!"

"Ah!" Komaeda feigned surprise as he lifted it off the couch, holding it lovingly, "Hinata-kun's present." He snagged the bottle off the couch as well, before he slowly got down on his hands and knees on the floor in front of him. He took a deep breath, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Hinata was watching-- as if he'd be looking anywhere else. Komaeda pumped out a little opaque, pink Strawberry onto the doll's painted face, obscuring its expression enough that one could forget the slight chance it was not actually supposed to be a sex toy. He brought the doll around behind him, and started to tease himself with the smooth head of it, fingers languidly moving it in a circle-shape. 

Hinata instantly felt the temperature of the room rise, and his hand shot up to cover his mouth. His hands remembered what it felt like to be the one doing this _to_  Komaeda, and was kind of regretting that he'd called it 'work'. He kept quiet though, and soon it started to seem worth it, being able to observe the careful, practiced flicks of his wrist as he eased the head of it inside himself. Komaeda moaned into the carpet, rotating it with his fingers while his leg trembled. Hinata found himself wondering, as always, if he was okay, if he was going too fast, but when he gasped  _'Hinata-kun_ ' into his fist, Hinata's concerns were pushed to the back of his mind. He leaned forward on the bed, toes digging into the carpet, and said something without meaning to--

"Hurry up." The order slipped out unexpectedly, but he let it sit in the air without trying to backtrack. 

"Ah, H-Hinata-kun, I don't know if I can do it myself," Komaeda wheezed, and it was probably the most blatant lie Hinata had ever heard from him. His hand twitched weakly as he thrust the doll shallowly, and Hinata was pretty sure he'd intentionally slowed down just to be contrary. 

"...I thought you said you'd do whatever I told you." 

"I am trying, but someone like me...is such a disappointment, I really don't deserve your expectations, or any mercy from you whatsoever," his breath kept catching in his throat, and finally he let go of the doll completely, leaving it halfway in himself, to rest on both his elbows with his forehead pressed into the floor. Hinata sighed, feeling stupid for thinking he'd actually been put in a position of command-- but also relieved, because honestly-- watching just wasn't as good.

"Fine," He scooted further off the edge of the bed, close enough to kick Komaeda if he'd wanted to, and lifted one leg off the ground. "I guess you really are useless." He paused. "...Good thing I'm here, then." He carefully placed the ball of his foot against the flat base of the doll, the slight movement eliciting a startled sound from Komaeda. Hinata wrapped his toes over the edge of it and started to push it in further-- as soon as he applied pressure, it tripped the small button on the bottom of the kokeshi, and the steady hum of rapid vibration filled the room. Komaeda whimpered louder, fingers clawing through the pink fibers of carpet as he tried to grab hold of something.

Hinata ignored his gut instinct to stop, and kept pushing deeper until his toes made contact with Komaeda's skin before he eased up, the natural squeeze of muscle pushing the doll back out a little as he pulled away. When he pushed it in again, it tripped the switch back off (it wasn't a very good place for the switch, quite frankly,) and he heard Komaeda sigh into the back of his arm. He straightened his ankle and the device switched on again, the insistent hum muffling as it re-entered. Hinata braced himself on the bed as he started moving his leg rhythmically, every other thrust switching the device on, then off, watching as Komaeda trembled from the intermittent stimulation. 

"It's pretty disgusting that you like this," Hinata said, because it sounded like something he was supposed to say. "But it makes sense to...um...treat trash like trash." 

Komaeda shivered as a groan escaped him, "Fascinating... Is this something you typically do to your trash, Hinata-kun?"

"Huh? H-haha... no...shut up." He bent and then straightened his knee again, pressing the doll in as far as it could go. Komaeda whined and shakily looked over his shoulder, but when their eyes met Hinata remembered how fucking flushed his face must be and jerked his head away. "I didn't give you permission to look at me!" He blurted out, leaning back as if a few inches more distance would diminish his face's shade of pink. 

"Of course, forgive me..." He turned back to the floor and continued to gasp quietly while Hinata's foot pressed the vibrator into him again.

Hinata noticed a glimmer under Komaeda's hips where he'd begun to leak pre-come onto the carpet, and had to steady himself.  _He_  was the one making Komaeda feel this way,  _he_  was the one talking down to him,  _he_  was the one treating him roughly, so that Komaeda didn't have to do it himself. And Komaeda was so much crueler to himself than Hinata could ever be.

His chest tightened.

Soft whimpering broke his train of thought, and Hinata realized he'd stopped moving. Komaeda's arms had begun to tremble from supporting his own weight; he really had no stamina at all. Hinata sat rigidly, fighting the urge to pull him up onto the bed. "That's enough, lay down on your back," he ordered instead. Komaeda didn't hesitate, carefully maneuvering himself into position, the doll still buzzing inside him. He let out a breathy sigh as he settled into the carpet, knees parted and bent loosely, both arms reaching up over his head to grab onto the leg of the gaudy couch.  

Hinata's gaze had been darting around, avoidant as though Komaeda had any modesty left, and when he finally looked at him, focused instead on the shadows his body cast on the floor. Komaeda was so hard that his dick rested against his stomach, but he made no move to touch himself or do anything but shower Hinata silently, motionlessly, with affection. Without a word, Hinata slid his foot between Komaeda's legs and started to stroke him, base to tip, with the ball of his foot. It started gently but soon became rougher to match Komaeda's mood, leaving Hinata struggling to keep his balance, as he was very nearly off the bed at this point. Komaeda bucked his hips into the motion, fingers curling against the couch leg that he refused to let go of. 

"H-Hinata-kun, you're..."

Hinata didn't let him finish the thought, and started to apply more pressure, practically standing now, toes pressing against sensitive skin, and Komaeda went silent as a hoarse cry got lost somewhere in his throat. Time froze until Komaeda toppled over the peak of his climax, and restarted with a jolt when Hinata realized his ankle was being grabbed. Komaeda's rough breathing spurred him on further, sliding his foot up, dragging the slick mess up his stomach.

Komaeda released his grip, looking dazed underfoot. "I didn't expect such rough treatment from you, Hinata-kun..."

Hinata gazed down at him, a mess of pale limbs and wild hair splayed out on the pink carpet like spilled paint, and he felt exceedingly proud of himself.  "It's just, uh, what you deserve," he mumbled, lifting his foot, figuring Komaeda could take that however he wanted. 

Komaeda reached between his own legs to tug the doll out of himself, and clicked it off.

"Guess I got my Monocoin's worth out of that prize, huh." Hinata averted his eyes as Komaeda stood up and began to clean himself with a pink towel (embroidered with strawberries, naturally) that had been tucked against the crevice of the couch's cushions. He seemed quite prepared.

"Would you still have given that present to me if you knew what was inside?" Komaeda asked, facing away from him.

Hinata hadn't considered it. "Probably. I've got some other nasty gacha stuff in my cottage you can have, too, if we ever get out of here. Straight jackets and ball gags and stuff. What the hell is wrong with that machine, anyway?"

Komaeda shot him a look over his shoulder, before folding the dirty towel and placing it precisely squared on the couch. "You can keep the ball gag, Hinata-kun."

"...Really? I guess if you were gagged, you wouldn't be able to make fun of me while we do it." Hinata sat back on the bed casually, forgetting that he was here to be mean.

Komaeda hesitated, looking around the room for a moment before his focus fell back on Hinata, and his smile returned. "I wouldn't be able to make a lot of other sounds you seem to enjoy, either." And then he was on his knees, fingers sliding between Hinata's legs to rub at him through the fabric.

Hinata grabbed his wrist-- Komaeda looked up at him, surprised to have been stopped. Hinata leaned down, narrowing his eyes. "Does that mean you want the straight jacket, then?"

"I told you, you can do anything to me, Hinata-kun!"

Hinata raised his eyebrows. "Anything _except_ \--" but Komaeda cut him off with a kiss, and then the rest of his body followed until he had crawled into Hinata's lap, his bare legs straddling Hinata's pants, hands gliding through his hair. It went on until Hinata was about to push him away to gasp for breath, but Komaeda did it first, jerking back abruptly, looking a little angry. Hinata's shoulders slumped. "What's wrong now?"

"You're just letting me do whatever I want."

Hinata sighed and grabbed Komaeda's shoulders firmly. "No... _you're_ doing whatever _I_ want."

"Hmm," Komaeda sounded unconvinced, and leaned in to kiss him again, grabbing the collar of his shirt to secure his position. Hinata froze, not sure if he was supposed to stop him or not. Fooling ultimate Good Luck was confusing and hard, much like Komaeda himself at this very moment. Hinata kissed him back as assertively as he could before pushing him away again.

"I'm gonna do it now, whether you like it or not," he announced.

"Do what?" Komaeda tilted his head innocently while Hinata dislodged him from his lap.

Hinata bristled and then remembered he didn't have to answer questions from someone 'terrible' that he 'didn't like'. "Stop messing around and lay down!"

Komaeda flopped face-down onto the mattress rather inelegantly, his hips at the edge of it and feet still on the floor; a muffled, "Hinata-kun," escaped through the fibers of the blankets.

"And don't rush me." Hinata braced himself. It would be their second time in nearly as many days, for a grand total of two times ever, and he honestly could not believe he'd had more sex this week than he'd had food-- quite the opposite of the entire rest of his life.

Hinata put his hands on Komaeda and took a deep breath. He grabbed the bottle from the floor with his other hand and drizzled more of the fragrant Strawberry over his fingers, wondering if this is how a 'fetish' is made. He slid his thumb down the crack of his ass and then held his breath as he slowly eased it inside. Perhaps, he considered, he would have 'a weird thing' for strawberries after this whole experience.  Komaeda was relaxed, but Hinata moved with extra caution, probably to compensate for the other boy's lack of it.  Working his thumb in a little further, Hinata tried not to think about his future fruit problem, or whether he would even _have_ a future in which to develop a fruit problem. 

The bottle wheezed, sputtering out a few more flecks of pink on Komaeda as it neared its end. Maybe this was overkill. "Do you think it's edible?" Hinata wondered belatedly. Maybe he already had a fruit problem.

"...Hmm?"

"The Strawberry. It at least kind of smells like strawberries, right?"

"Fake strawberries," Komaeda sounded impatient.

"But still...what if this was some kind of hidden secret, and we were supposed to eat it, instead of...you know, this."

"It's not edible."

Hinata bent his thumb and Komaeda gasped. "You just don't want me to waste it, huh? We can still do _other stuff_ without it." Hinata leaned down and swiped his tongue across Komaeda's skin, catching some of the Strawberry in his mouth. Komaeda gasped again and whipped his head around to see, just in time to witness Hinata's coughing fit. "It's...not edible..." he choked out.

"I told you," Komaeda said through a wobbly laugh.

"It was worth checking! Just in case!"

"I already checked it."

"..." Hinata glared. "...You're ready, right?"

"It doesn't matter," Komaeda whined, balling his fists in the sheets and pushing back against him.

Hinata rolled his eyes. Of course. "I-I know that. I meant," He kept messing it up, but it wasn't too late to save it, right? "Ready or not..." He leaned down to whisper in his ear, " _It's Punishment Time_." Before the words even finished leaving his mouth, Hinata cringed so hard Komaeda probably felt it. He half-expected Monokuma to appear and give him a prize, as a swift death would be too merciful.

"Uh... r-right... ...good," Even Komaeda sounded disgusted, but he was being a good sport for once. Hinata figured that if he acted quickly, they could both forget about that line, and if not, perhaps together they could find a way to starve to death more quickly. Hinata hastily undid his belt and zipper and stepped out of his boxers and slacks, kicking them toward the couch. He placed his hand on the small of Komaeda's back to hold him in place as he braced the fronts of his thighs on the bed and positioned himself. Rolling his hips forward, he slowly pushed inside him.

"Ah..." Komaeda moaned into the mattress, his toes digging into the carpet as his legs straightened on either side of Hinata's thighs. Hinata leaned in completely and slid his hand up from Komaeda's back to twist into his hair. He pushed the wild tendrils out of the way, revealing the back of his neck, noting that his hairline and skin were nearly the same shade. Hinata could see the mark on his shoulder from earlier, and instead of touching it, bent fully over him to gently kiss at the nape of his neck. He felt more than heard Komaeda groan, and he _almost_ asked him what was wrong, but he already knew the answer. Hinata parted his lips and carefully nipped at the skin, turning the kiss into something more stimulating, testing the water before biting down harder. He wasn't going to be able to move much if his mouth was anchored in one spot, so he bit hard enough to leave a lasting sensation before pulling away. Komaeda's head turned as Hinata pulled out, dragging his cheek down the mattress with the motion before being jolted back into place when he pushed in again.

"Hinata...-kun," Komaeda propped himself up on his elbows so Hinata could see the arch of his back while he fucked him, forming an appealing, lewd curve and highlighting the slight flush his skin had taken on. Komaeda was practically translucent most of the time, particularly in the awful lighting of the Funhouse, but here, right now, Hinata thought that he could have been mistaken for a healthy person-- He wasn't sure if all that stuff about being sick was even true (and didn't like to think about it one way or the other, honestly,) but the possibility flickered through his mind again, and his breath caught in his throat.

_Komaeda is alive, right now, and I'm alive, right now, and that's all that matters, right now._

Hinata pulled out partway and stopped, grabbing Komaeda's hips suddenly to yank him back instead of thrusting in, breaking the rhythm and entering him at a different angle. Komaeda startled and grabbed the blanket instinctively, one of his knees bent and moved to the bed like he was trying to crawl away. Hinata yanked him back again, and Komaeda dragged half the blankets with him. It was so easy to move him around, Hinata wondered why he hadn't tried it before. He dug his fingers into Komaeda's angular hips, pulled him back again harder, and Komaeda finally made a satisfying sound. His other leg was up on the bed now too, and every time Hinata pulled him backwards, Komaeda tried half-heartedly to escape, his hands and knees swimming in the crumpled up pink fabric that had gathered beneath him.

The bed has started to creak with the motion and he felt Komaeda tense around him, could hear him panting into the bed. If he was getting close, he was about to start tearing himself down, or asking Hinata to stop, or begging to be hurt-- so Hinata braced for it. Instead, Komaeda reached behind himself to place his hand flat on Hinata's stomach as if to slow him down, but he didn't apply any pressure-- as if he just wanted more contact. Hinata placed his hand over Komaeda's and squeezed a little, waiting to be scolded for the gentle gesture. When that didn't happen either, Hinata pushed his own luck a little more and crawled up onto the bed as well, without breaking contact, adjusting Komaeda's position to follow his lead. He held his hip in place with one hand and began to stroke Komaeda with the other, feeling the warmth of orgasm starting to bloom in his stomach.

Komaeda must have been feeling it too, burying his face in one of the pillows, hard enough that Hinata hoped he wasn't trying to suffocate himself. But he could still hear him breathing, so he kept going, fucking him faster as Komaeda trembled and shook, back arching in the other direction. Hinata lifted his hips a little more until he was sure he was hitting the right spot--over and over-- Komaeda sobbed and jerked and finally cried out, tightening around Hinata and holding him in place while he came. He felt the slickness in his hand and the feel of it and Komaeda's shaky gasps pushed him through his final thrusts.

Before he'd even finished, Komaeda grabbed his hand and was tenderly licking it clean, sucking in each of Hinata's fingers and then flicking his tongue at the sensitive skin between them. Hinata jerked his hand away and laughed nervously, not expecting that but also not really surprised. He gently pulled out and collapsed on the wad of blankets, pulling Komaeda down with him.

"You didn't scold me or do anything too weird at the end." Hinata said breathlessly, lacking the delicacy and tact of someone who had not just come.

Komaeda rolled over to face him. "Whatever bad luck is coming for this is most likely already on its way, or has already happened without our knowledge."

"You're really still worried about having _good_ luck while we're starving to death in a funhouse? Isn't anything good that happens during this...just balance?"

Komaeda was quiet, absently running his fingernail against the grain of the upholstered pillow. "Thank you for coming to see me, Hinata-kun." He paused, the space between his words deeply silent enough that the soft scratch of his nail was deafening, "You should go back to treating me like a nuisance from now on, and maybe it will leave you alone."

Hinata pulled the blankets up over both of them when he saw Komaeda shiver faintly. "You're still a pain in the ass and really fucking weird, and I mean that sincerely."

"I know," Komaeda said softly, rolling onto his back. They both stared into the blackness of the ceiling. Hinata felt like the silence that followed was echoing off the walls, and became desperate to break its momentum with something softer. _  
_

_Maybe I really am gonna die if I'm feeling this fucking sentimental._

"...I was worried about you," Hinata finally exhaled, "while you were sick."

Komaeda sighed. "I think I was extra susceptible to the Despair Disease because of my health. It would have been such a waste to die from illness for no purpose at all, but since it was Monokuma's doing, I don't think he would have let that happen."

"Yeah, but... Tsumiki was the one taking care of you... so it was still really dangerous."

"Oh, I wasn't worried about that."

Hinata sat up sharply and turned to look down at him. "There it is again... you wouldn't mind dying if someone kills you, but I'm trying to tell you that I _would_ mind!" He clenched the sheets in his fist. If it was too late to avoid the bad luck, what did it matter anymore what he said? "I like being around you for some reason, so I don't want you to die, and you should stop talking like that, okay?!" Hinata didn't want to admit how often he thought about it-- if Komaeda had shared Mioda's fate.

"Hinata-kun," Komaeda didn't sit up, he only turned his head. "I just meant that I was unable to walk, so it would have been too much trouble for her to move my body from the crime scene. I was probably never in danger of being murdered by Tsumiki-san."

"Oh..."

Hinata flopped back down and rolled over abruptly. There were a multitude of good reasons that he kind of felt like crying right now, but he couldn't settle on one, and didn't want Komaeda to know about any of them. As if she was his angel, his conscience, Sonia's face appeared in his mind again, smiling. _No regrets_.

"Well, I'm not sorry I said it. If we die in here, or even if we don't, I'm glad I said it while I could." Hinata blurted out, staring at the hideous wall.

"...I don't expect Hope's Peak's chosen to lie down and waste away without fighting... that would be really disappointing." Komaeda avoided the topic with expert steps.

Hinata turned back to him again "Komaeda--"

"Hinata-kun. I was satisfied from the beginning that you would even lower yourself to talk to me, that you'd make eye contact with me, that you felt sorry for me for even a moment, much less let me touch you or invade your space night after night. I took more than I needed because I'm selfish and weak, and now I've taken too much." He sat up to look Hinata in the eyes directly, his head eclipsing the light from the lamp behind him. Hinata suddenly felt small. "I can't force you to leave, so perhaps you want to stay with me and experience my fate alongside me-- it will certainly be interesting, if nothing else! It always is!" He grabbed Hinata's hand with both of his, clutching it to his chest. "If it's your hope to die with me, and face ultimate luck when it comes, then let's take action together first." He brought Hinata's hand to his throat, squeezing his wrist tightly enough that he couldn't pull away. "End the cycle here and now, Hinata-kun. I'm begging you! I'll tell you what you need to do to save yourself."

Hinata couldn't bring himself to recoil. He let Komaeda hold his hand in place, fingers pushed so hard against his throat that he could feel a heartbeat, and leaned forward to kiss him instead. Komaeda sat still and let it happen, even closed his eyes, and relaxed enough for Hinata to pull his hand away. When he opened his eyes again, Hinata stood by the bed, dressing himself in front of the lamp, casting a long shadow across the sheets. He straightened his tie just enough. Komaeda blinked at him slowly, the intense energy from a few moments before leaving him almost tangibly as the space between them crystallized.

"Get some sleep, Komaeda...I'll see you tomorrow." Hinata reached for the knob on the gaudy lamp beside his gaudy bed. He stared at Komaeda, who looked tired, who looked lost, who looked like he no longer had the will to speak but still had more to say, and clicked out the light. Sudden blackness burned the image of his face into Hinata's mind as he turned and made his way for the door, and then it washed away forcibly with the blinding pink of the Strawberry hallway.

As it was a sound-proof room, if Komaeda said anything after the door closed, Hinata did not hear it.

~~~~~

The elevator was slow to arrive, giving Hinata ample time to share the lobby with the awful doors of The Final Dead Room. The delay told him that Sonia had probably already gone back to Grape House. He wondered if she'd accomplished what she'd set out to do, and lived without regrets. He honestly wasn't sure if he regretted his actions or not, now, but felt like if he'd done nothing, he would have regretted it more. Simple success was for people with simple circumstances, and Hinata had not been blessed with simple circumstances in quite a long time.

He returned to his room to get some sleep and approach Komaeda with a clearer head the next day, but unfortunately, he-- and everyone else who was not sleeping in a Deluxe, sound-proof room-- was awakened that night by a loud

_c r a s h_

 

The next time he saw Komaeda, he appeared suddenly, in the middle of their investigation in Grape House, despite broken elevators, despite everything-- He was holding a file.

"Hello, Hinata-kun."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i thought this could be another stand-alone "only need knowledge of the game's canon and willingness to assume that hinakoma is already canon" story but i ended up referencing too many of my own dumb strawberry dynamo things, so it's a chapter 2 like a year later! hurray! i started it long ago but it was surprisingly difficult to get hinata to convey the exact right (or wrong) amount of feelings. no specific art for this chapter (yet) but there is plenty of strawberry house garbage already living on my disgusting tumblr, y/n/d/r/4/h/o/p/e all one word

**Author's Note:**

> why did Hinakoma happen to me


End file.
